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Case Study: Sacred Goddess: Ideas About Femininity

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Week 3: Sacred Goddess: Ideas about Femininity
China is an appearance driven society where heavy emphasis is placed on a woman’s aesthetics and femininity rather than their talents and achievements. (Chan & Cheng, 2011) Women are constantly under pressure by their peers, family and society to chase the ideal standards of physical beauty. This has caused the beauty economy in China also known as “mei nü jing ji”, to thrive (Zhang, 2012). Many take radical measures to “fix” physical qualities that are deemed flaws. Some characteristics that are associated with femininity and are extremely sought after China include fair skin, big, bright eyes, and a small and delicate soft nose. The feminine characteristic most sought after in China is fair …show more content…

Thus, fair skin is linked with urban residency along from being in a wealthy family. Additionally, those who are more wealthy are able to splurge on skin whitening procedures and products and are more likely of being able to achieve fairer skin. This creates a greater divide between the two social classes as this can cause those who cannot afford such procedures to be stigmatized. Nevertheless, importance of having fair skin is not supported in all cultures. For example, in Western societies, femininity includes having bronzed and tanned skin. This is often linked to beauty, health and high socioeconomic status as they are wealthy enough to travel around the world (Garvin & Wilson, 1999). However, it can be seen that Asian cultures tend to prefer fair complexions, including Japanese, Korean and Indian cultures (Johansson, …show more content…

Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, who won Miss Universe in 2015, is 5 ft. 8 inches, and had barely met the minimum height requirement needed to enter (Lasco, 2016). Since this is a competition to determine the beauty, this suggests that the Philippines society believe that being tall is a characteristic associated with femininity. However, the fact that she won Miss Universe, a competition between countries from all around the world, suggests that whilst she is considered borderline short in Philippines, other countries view being 5 ft 8 inches tall and

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